New Year´s day at Cheltenham

Cheltenham´s New Year fixture is always a high class affair and luckily today´s card has been saved. There are only 5 runners in the Grade Two novice chase over 2 miles 5 furlongs at 14.40 CET, but it is still a fascinating contest. Paul Nicholls´ Kicks for Free (Ruby Walsh) could start favourite, but Tartak (Tom George/ Paddy Brennan) looks very useful and is a big threat. There are also only 5 runners in the 2 1/2 mile hurdle race at 16.20, but 4 of them are pretty smart; Nicholls and Walsh are represented here by Five Dream, unlucky last time, but front-runner Lough Derg (David Pipe/ Tom Scudamore), Franchoek (Alan King/ Robert Thornton) and No Refuge (Howard Johnson/ Denis O´Regan) provide stern opposition. The handicaps looks exteremely tricky, but we expect top-weight Tazbar (Keith and James Reveley) to run well in the 3 mile hurdle at 15.45, although Ballydub (Philip Hobbs/ Richard Johnson) is the obvious favourite here after his easy win at Newbury last time. Some use ful staying chasers are engaged in the race at 14.05, and we expect the prize-money to go to a northern trainer, with Noir et Vert (Ferdy Murphy/ Graham Lee), Character Building (John Quinn/ Dougie Costello) and Rambling Minster (Keith and James Reveley) the three for our short list; Murphy and Lee can also go close with Three Mirrors in the most valuable race of the day, a handicap chase pver 2 miles 5 furlongs at 15.10.